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Systemic bias, plus negative media during the Bush period (i.e. Iraq war). I think receiving the Bin Laden tapes was probably what ruined their US reputation (

by ErrantX 16y ago

Systemic bias, plus negative media during the Bush period (i.e. Iraq war). I think receiving the Bin Laden tapes was probably what ruined their US reputation (which is ironic; seeing as getting those tapes is what any good, objective, media agency in that region should have been doing! :D) Al Jazeera is one of the best news sources I know of - they report on a region fraught with extreme opinions, differing cultures and a lot of nastiness (both from within and without). And manage to do it well/consistently. That is my impression of English Al Jazeera anyway, have no experience of the Arabic arm (and I feel it would be silly to automatically assume they are the same :)). Interestingly I find them a good source on Western stories too; when writing Wikipedia articles I will often use Al Jazeera both as a source & to cut down into the meat of the story - they tend to have a "back to basics" style of journalism. EDIT: BTW, over the Egypt issue I have been enjoying their coverage; a lot less flag waving than the Western media. They just had an interesting report about the problems of looting and thugs inciting violence in the crowds.

berntb 16y ago
>>Al Jazeera is one of the best news sources I know of Hrm, got any references for that? I just found this and posted on another thread: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_antisemitism#Yusuf_al-Qaradawi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_antisemitism#Yusuf_al... In a sermon, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on January 9, 2009 [...] "Oh Allah, take your enemies, the enemies of Islam. Oh Allah, take the Jews, the treacherous aggressors. Oh Allah, take this profligate, cunning, arrogant band of people. [...] Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one." Edit: I realize that racist hate mongering and asking ghod for genocide is removed in the English versions... But can any sane person claim that those showing such content on TV is "one of the best news sources"?
- ErrantX 16y ago
  You have a point; but that is more editorial (well, live "opinion") than the news side. I don't think such an incident is representative of a general trend at Al Jazeera. But the media all over the world has problems with anti-Semitism; just because they don't advocate death does not make it any better :)
  - berntb 16y ago
    AGAIN: So you really trust people that (at an absolute minimum) have no moral problems with accepting/showing racist hatred and calls for genocide! That was almost as sad and fun, as the fact that I'm getting down voted fast for posting quotes about Al Jazeera and showing what they go for. Edit: I should also note that you lack references for your claim?
    - ErrantX 16y ago
      Ah, you've made a snap judgement there. See, you have one incident - it's a bad one, sure, but definitely not representative of the channel. And, as it is, I accept their explanation for it (which appears to be; they were airing a sermon from a slightly more hard line cleric, and he made extreme comments. Turning that into not having moral problems accepting... etc. is something of a leap. And I don't think you could prove/show this is systemic problem at the channel. (We occasionally have racist/nasty comments made on UK media, and lots of fuss about it, that doesn't make the channel racist!) You should always generally distrust your media source as a matter of course. I'm not going to argue this with you because it looks like you have an axe to grind, and this really isn't the place. But put AJ next to a lot of US media and I find them more neutral and informative :) Anti-Semitism is a huge problem in a wide portion of media (as I mentioned), it is one of the problems that means we have to take what they say with caution in some matters, but from my observation (and barring a few slips) AJ has a better track record than, says, FOX. > I should also note that you lack references for your claim? In case it is not obvious... this is my opinion... sheesh. :)
      - berntb 16y ago
        >>you have one incident ... And, as it is, I accept their explanation for it First, do you have a reference to that claim, then? Second, it took me five seconds to find this: "Former Inmate: Guantanamo Jews Used Witchcraft on Prisoners, Made Me Feel a Cat Was Trying to Penetrate Me" http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/64/2730.htm http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/64/2730.htm That was a second incident. Or is that just normal Al Jazeera news -- which you claim is one of the best...? Or was that also sent directly without the standard five seconds safety to be able to cut off? :-) Edit: It is problematic with tv, since you can't just check the original language versions by translate.google.com. It do seem to be easy to find lots of weird stuff covered by non-English Al J. Which I think I'll base an opinion on. I'll just note the general lack of references for the claims of credibility.

by ErrantX 16y ago

berntb 16y ago

>>Al Jazeera is one of the best news sources I know of Hrm, got any references for that? I just found this and posted on another thread: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_antisemitism#Yusuf_al-Qaradawi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_antisemitism#Yusuf_al... In a sermon, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on January 9, 2009 [...] "Oh Allah, take your enemies, the enemies of Islam. Oh Allah, take the Jews, the treacherous aggressors. Oh Allah, take this profligate, cunning, arrogant band of people. [...] Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one." Edit: I realize that racist hate mongering and asking ghod for genocide is removed in the English versions... But can any sane person claim that those showing such content on TV is "one of the best news sources"?

ErrantX 16y ago
You have a point; but that is more editorial (well, live "opinion") than the news side. I don't think such an incident is representative of a general trend at Al Jazeera. But the media all over the world has problems with anti-Semitism; just because they don't advocate death does not make it any better :)
- berntb 16y ago
  AGAIN: So you really trust people that (at an absolute minimum) have no moral problems with accepting/showing racist hatred and calls for genocide! That was almost as sad and fun, as the fact that I'm getting down voted fast for posting quotes about Al Jazeera and showing what they go for. Edit: I should also note that you lack references for your claim?
  - ErrantX 16y ago
    Ah, you've made a snap judgement there. See, you have one incident - it's a bad one, sure, but definitely not representative of the channel. And, as it is, I accept their explanation for it (which appears to be; they were airing a sermon from a slightly more hard line cleric, and he made extreme comments. Turning that into not having moral problems accepting... etc. is something of a leap. And I don't think you could prove/show this is systemic problem at the channel. (We occasionally have racist/nasty comments made on UK media, and lots of fuss about it, that doesn't make the channel racist!) You should always generally distrust your media source as a matter of course. I'm not going to argue this with you because it looks like you have an axe to grind, and this really isn't the place. But put AJ next to a lot of US media and I find them more neutral and informative :) Anti-Semitism is a huge problem in a wide portion of media (as I mentioned), it is one of the problems that means we have to take what they say with caution in some matters, but from my observation (and barring a few slips) AJ has a better track record than, says, FOX. > I should also note that you lack references for your claim? In case it is not obvious... this is my opinion... sheesh. :)
    - berntb 16y ago
      >>you have one incident ... And, as it is, I accept their explanation for it First, do you have a reference to that claim, then? Second, it took me five seconds to find this: "Former Inmate: Guantanamo Jews Used Witchcraft on Prisoners, Made Me Feel a Cat Was Trying to Penetrate Me" http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/64/2730.htm http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/64/2730.htm That was a second incident. Or is that just normal Al Jazeera news -- which you claim is one of the best...? Or was that also sent directly without the standard five seconds safety to be able to cut off? :-) Edit: It is problematic with tv, since you can't just check the original language versions by translate.google.com. It do seem to be easy to find lots of weird stuff covered by non-English Al J. Which I think I'll base an opinion on. I'll just note the general lack of references for the claims of credibility.